UOB and the Higher Education Academy (UK) signed a Global Partnership agreement

The University of Bahrain (UoB) and the Higher Education Academy (UK) signed a Global Partnership agreement on the 3rd April 2017. The agreement was signed during the opening ceremony of the “First Symposium on Teaching Transformation through Action Research: UoB Experience over 10 years”, held on the UoB campus in Sakheir. The HEA are recognized as global leaders in teaching and learning and the UoB has been a strategic partner of the HEA since 2013, the first in the MENA region. As a result of this strategic partnership, HEA accredited faculty development programs have been delivered entirely by UoB academic staff.

With the agreement that was signed on the 3rd April 2017, UOB is once again taking the lead and becoming the only university in the MENA region and the fourth university worldwide to be awarded HEA global partner status.

The Global Partnership status is offered by invitation to universities that have been running their our HEA accredited faculty development programs successfully for more than three years. It allows a higher education institution to offer its accredited programs outside the home institution.

UoB is the first HEA Global Partner in the Gulf and this agreement reflects its long and close relationship with the HEA. UoB now joins a small group of institutions including Queensland University of Technology, Australia National University and Coventry University who are working with the HEA to offer Fellowships to their partners.

During the pilot period of this project, which will be in academic year 2017 2018, the UoB will be offering HEA accredited programs to faculty in the Applied Science University (ASU) here in Bahrain and awarding them HEA Fellowship upon completion. The UoB is also currently in discussions with other universities locally to reach similar agreements.

Prof Riyad Hamzah president of UoB commented that: “This global partnership is a tremendous achievement and is recognition of our high quality teaching. We look forward to advancing teaching quality in the MENA region through our partnership with the HEA”.

HEA Chief Executive, Professor Stephanie Marshall, was in Bahrain to sign the Global Partner agreement on behalf of the HEA. She also delivered a keynote at the Symposium on Enhancing Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. On this occasion she, said:

“This agreement is an important landmark, illustrating the great work that the Unit of Teaching Excellence and Leadership at the University of Bahrain has done to raise the status of teaching and reward and recognize staff for their commitment to their profession. I am delighted that they will be sharing best practice. – this is completely in the HEA spirit of building communities of best practice.”

Dr Sana Al Mansoori, Head of UoB’s Unit of Teaching Excellence and Leadership, said, “HEA Global Partnership status is the culmination of a great deal of hard work from the team. The route to HEA Fellowship has helped numerous UoB teaching staff reflect on their practice and learn and share what works best in the effective engagement of their students – and we heard all about those experiences at the Symposium. I am very proud of the fact that our accredited provision is now open to ASU staff – it is a great vote of confidence in our systems.”